~Chapter 33~
It was something he hadn’t expected, so Latryne looked surprised at Ered’s words.
“Because of Erias’s appearance, I keep forgetting that Litya is from the Alpress family.”
“To the Council of Elders, this is a golden opportunity. They’ve been eyeing the power of the Alpress family for a while now.”
“But I heard that the Alpress family’s inheritance works very differently from the royal family… If Sertien didn’t inherit the power of Alpress, wouldn’t that mean their power doesn’t pass on?”
“There are many other issues too. In any case, only someone from the Alpress family would know the details, so I can’t say for sure.”
“…Is it okay to just leave those two like this?”
Latryne murmured with a lonely look on his face.
Ered returned to his usual playful tone and said:
“Even if you and Litya had gotten married, things probably wouldn’t have changed much.”
“I know. It might’ve even made things worse.”
Latryne thought of Litya.
When he first realized that Litya might be Erias, there was only one thing he wished for.
That Litya could live a happy life, far away from him.
Getting involved with him, like Erias had, would only ruin her life.
Erias’s memory was almost like trauma to Latryne.
He didn’t show it on the outside, but if it ever seemed like Litya might follow Erias’s path even a little, he reacted almost violently to stop it.
When he first discovered Litya’s identity, part of him did wish they could love each other again like before.
But soon, after seeing how happy Litya was now, he thought—
He had no right to take that happiness away.
Even if it meant his own destruction.
Now that he knew the Council was threatening Sertien, he couldn’t just stand by.
If things went badly, it wouldn’t just be Sertien—Litya could be in danger too.
Latryne’s eyes gleamed dangerously.
Not long after Latryne left, Sertien came looking for me.
He hurried over and opened the door to my room, but when he saw me, he hesitated with a scared face.
I was sitting and resting, so I smiled to help him feel at ease.
“Seri, aren’t you coming in?”
“…”
Sertien quietly came over and sat next to me.
I patted his head and asked,
“Were you scared? I’m sorry…”
“No, Mom, you were cool.”
Maybe he said that to comfort me—he answered with energy.
“No, I won’t be scary next time. But thank you for saying I looked cool!”
Only then did Sertien smile softly and hug me tightly.
The sun was already setting.
Luckily, there have been no more attacks since then.
I passed the time playing card games with Sertien.
‘Will we arrive in the Kingdom of Sylvia tomorrow?’
After covering the sleeping Sertien with a blanket, I closed the open window and thought to myself.
At first, I only came along to stop Latryne’s marriage, but things were starting to get more complicated.
I got up, opened the door, and looked around.
“Excuse me, could you watch the child for a moment?”
I called over a nearby knight who was walking by and asked him.
He nodded and went into the room I had just been in.
I wanted to use the restroom, but since there had been an attack, I couldn’t leave Sertien alone.
As I was quickly heading back, I saw Ered standing alone at the train’s entrance.
I figured it was a good chance and walked up to him.
“What are you doing here?”
“…”
But for some reason, Ered didn’t look like his usual self.
He looked sad.
It was unusual to see Ered with that expression.
I wondered if something had happened, so I stopped approaching and asked,
“Did something happen?”
“…No, I just suddenly felt lonely.”
“…”
“I just want to protect the people I care about, but it’s not going well.”
“You’re really acting strange today. Something did happen, didn’t it?”
“Nothing really happened. I’m always like this.”
“Anyone would say that’s not true.”
“…”
“Actually, I wanted to ask you something, Ered. You know who attacked Sertien—or who gave the order, right? You acted like you knew, but did you really think I wouldn’t notice?”
“There’s something I want to ask too. Litya, just how much do you know?”
There it was again.
I stayed calm and tried to answer as naturally as possible.
“Why do you keep asking that? Did I do something strange?”
“No, you always stay quiet. But at critical moments, you act like someone who knows something. That’s why I asked.”
“I really don’t know anything.”
“Is that so? Actually, I do know who was targeting Sertien.”
“Then…”
“I’d like to tell you, but I don’t know how much you know, so I can’t.”
Was this a threat?
Or was he trying to make a deal?
Honestly, I was already starting to wonder if something big had happened—something that didn’t happen in the original novel.
Especially Ered’s actions.
They didn’t completely match the Ered I knew from the novel.
Maybe it would actually help more if I told him what I knew and asked for help.
But how should I explain it?
While I hesitated, Ered shook his head.
“No, you’re always like this. Even if I ask and ask, you never say anything. You make decisions on your own.”
“…Ered, do you think I really… No, what is it you think I know?”
“For example… the future, maybe? Sometimes it seems like you already know what’s going to happen.”
“Do you believe in things like foresight?”
“Why not? The power I inherited is just as unbelievable.”
“…I know.”
“…What?”
“I know. Not everything, but a little. Even so, I don’t know if things will really happen the way I know them.”
That was all I decided to say.
There was no need to explain the crazy story that I came from outside the novel and knew how it was supposed to go.
That explanation was enough.
Ered looked shocked and mumbled,
“…This has never happened before…”
“This has never happened before?”
Wait… could it be that Ered… really…?
Ered closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and asked again,
“What kind of future do you know about?”
I looked around briefly and replied,
“But isn’t it a little risky to talk about this here? I don’t know why you think that about me, but this isn’t really something we should talk about in a place like this.”
“Alright then… Let’s talk about it later.”
Ered smiled.
“Maybe this time, things could turn out differently.”
At that moment, Ered looked at me with dreamy eyes and gently stroked my cheek.
Like someone trying to confirm that I was really there.
“…”
I just stared at him blankly, not knowing what was going on.
Ered quietly withdrew his hand and walked away.
“…Now that I look, he’s a lot like Latryne…”
I thought that as I watched Ered walk away.
Ered hated—no, despised—his father.
But in reality, he was the one who resembled the former emperor the most.
Latryne was described as a mix of both his mother and father, so the two of them being similar made sense.
If both of them looked like the former emperor, maybe it would’ve been better if Latryne’s identity as a prince had been discovered earlier.
Then things wouldn’t have gotten this complicated.
Thinking such useless thoughts, I turned around and went back to the room.
It was nearly morning when we finally arrived in the Kingdom of Sylvia.
As soon as we arrived, we met the delegation that Sylvia had sent to greet us.
The person who seemed to be the leader looked at us and said,
“Welcome to the Kingdom of Sylvia. We’ve been waiting for you. But it seems like there are more people than we were told. Also, no one mentioned a child…”
Since Ered, Sertien, and I were all together, it probably looked like a big group.
Hearing the representative mutter in confusion, I felt awkward.
I tried to slip away quietly with Sertien, but Latryne gently grabbed me to stop me.
He probably did it out of concern, but I felt really uncomfortable.
After all, I wasn’t part of the official delegation.
“Please, just let me leave…”
We exchanged greetings and then headed straight to the royal palace.
As we were leaving, I quickly whispered to Latryne,
“Then I’ll go buy some clothes for Seri. His clothes are too thin for this weather.”
“But it’s dangerous for just the two of you. And if you don’t enter the palace now… how will you get in later…”
“I’m not part of the delegation anyway.
I’ll just find a place to stay outside.”
At that, Latryne looked serious and said,
“No. It’s safer inside the palace, so let’s all go in together. Since you’re the knight captain of our country, there should be no issue getting in.”
“Still…”
“If I say you’re acting as my guard, everyone will accept it. And since Sertien is my son, there won’t be any problem from the palace.”
Latryne was so firm that I couldn’t say no.
He also seemed a little uneasy, so I decided to go along with him.
“Then we’ll have someone go out later and buy some suitable clothes for Seri.”
At that moment, I hadn’t noticed yet.
I didn’t realize that Sertien was walking beside me with no energy.
“Seri, just wait a bit, okay? I’ll get you some pretty clothes.”
“…Okay…”
